Psych of Criminal Behavior Final Exam (9,10,11)

Second National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence

Follow-up to first survey; discovered lower rates but many polyvictims.

Weapons effect

Suggestion that the mere presence of a weapon leads a witness or victim to concentrate on the weapon itself rather than other features of the crime.

Hostile attribution bias

The tendency to perceive hostile intent in others even when it is lacking.

Aggravated assault

Inflicting, or attempting to inflict, bodily injury on another person, with the intent to inflict serious injury.

Parricide

The killing of a parent.

Self-regulation

The ability to control one’s behavior in accordance with internal cognitive standards

Negligent manslaughter

the unlawful killing of another through reckless or negligent behavior, without intention to kill.

Neonaticide

The killing of a newborn, usually within 24 hours but also within 48.

National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence

Comprehensive survey of incidence and prevalence of children’s exposure to violence. See also Second National Survey.

Filicide

Killing of one’s child older than 24 hours. This time period has fluctuated over years and research projects.

Nonnegligent manslaughter

The killing of a human being without premeditation but with the intention to kill in the “heat of the moment,” such as under high emotional states of anger or passion.

Proactive violence

Similar to controlled-instrumental aggression, actions undertaken to obtain a specific goal.

Cycle-of-violence hypothesis

The belief that violence is likely to be perpetuated across generations among individuals who have experienced and witnessed violence in their families.

Availability heuristic

The cognitive shortcuts that people use to make quick inferences about their world. It is the information that is most readily available to us mentally and is usually based extensively on the most recent material we gain from the news or entertainment media.

General altercation homicide

Death resulting from hostile aggression.

Medical child abuse

An unusual form of child abuse in which the parent consistently brings a child for medical attention with symptoms directly falsified or induced by the parent. Formerly called Munchausen syndrome by proxy.

Multiassaultive families

Nuclear families (traditional or nontraditional) characterized by multiple incidents of violence involving more than one perpetrator.

Assault

The intentional inflicting of bodily injury on another person, or the attempt to inflict such injury.

Criminal homicide

A term that encompasses both murder and nonnegligent homicide.

Abusive head trauma

A form of child abuse in which someone shakes or throws an infant, causing significant brain damage or death. Previously called shaken baby syndrome.

Stereotypical abductions

Child abductions that are believed to result in tragedy, such as the complete disappearance or death of a child. Rarest of child abductions.

Murder

The felonious killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought. See also criminal homicide.

Coercion theory

The belief that punitive and coercive tactics employed by parents will increase the likelihood of later aggressive behavior and family violence.

Infanticide

Although this term literally means the killing of an infant, it has become synonymous with the killing of a child by a parent.

Typology

A classification system that identifies commonalities among members of groups (e.g., serial murderers, terrorists, sex offenders) to aid in investigation of crime and offering treatment services.

Personation

Any behavior that goes beyond what is necessary to commit the crime. Crime scene signature is left deliberately by the offender. Psychological signature is beyond the offender’s awareness.

Confirmation bias

Seeking evidence to confirm one’s own preconceived notions about a person or situation.

Equivocal death analysis

(RPE) Reconstruction of the personality profile and cognitive features (especially intentions) of deceased individuals. Also referred to as psychological autopsy or equivocal death analysis.

Clinical

Profiling based on experience and “gut feelings” rather than on research and statistical data.

Psychological autopsy

Postmortem analysis often reserved for cases in which suicide occurred or is suspected or alleged. The psychological autopsy is frequently done to determine the reasons and precipitating factors for the death. Also called reconstructive psychological evaluation or equivocal death analysis.

Family mass murder

A situation in which at least three family members are killed (usually by another family member).

Disorganized crime scene

Demonstrates that the offender committed the crime without careful planning. In other words, the crime scene indicators suggest the person acted on impulse, in rage, or under extreme excitement.

Actuarial

A procedure that employs statistical group data based on prior offenders to identify an individual offender who committed similar crimes.

Risk assessment

The enterprise in which clinicians offer probabilities that a given individual will engage in violent or otherwise antisocial behavior based on known factors relating to the individual.

Mass murder

The unlawful killing of three or more persons at a single location with no cooling-off period between murders.

Reconstructive psychological evaluation

RPE) Reconstruction of the personality profile and cognitive features (especially intentions) of deceased individuals. Also referred to as psychological autopsy or equivocal death analysis.

Suspect-based profiling

Controversial and potentially illegal method that tries to identify an offender based on characteristics of prior offenders who have committed similar crimes.

Mixed crime scenes

Indicates that the nature of the crime demonstrates both organized and disorganized behavioral patterns.

Authority homicide

The killing of someone of higher authority than the perpetrator.

Profiling

The process of identifying personality traits, behavioral tendencies, and demographic variables of an offender based on characteristics of the crime. See also psychological profiling.

Undoing

A behavioral pattern found at the crime scene whereby the offender tries to psychologically “undo” the murder.

Organized crime scene

Indicates planning and premeditation on the part of the offender. In other words, the crime scene shows signs that the offender maintained control of himself or herself and of the victim, if it is a crime against a person. See also disorganized crime scene and mixed crime scene.

Spree murder

The killing of three or more individuals without any cooling-off period, usually at two or more locations.

Investigative psychology

The application of psychological research and concepts to the investigation of crime.

Geographical profiling

A type of profiling that focuses on the location of the crime and how it relates to the residence and/or base of operations of the offender.

Base rates

The naturally occurring rate of a phenomenon within a given population.

Gender and Crime

Males account for 90% of arrest rates for

murder

Age and Crime

About half of all those arrested for violent

crime are between the ages of 20 and 29

Juvenile Homicide Offenders

• Majority take place during general altercation
  episodes or commission of a felony
  • Research on gender differences

Criminal Homicide

Causing the death of another person without legal

justification or excuse

• Murder

– Presence of malice aforethought

• Nonnegligent manslaughter

– Absence of malice aforethought

• Negligent manslaughter

– Involuntary manslaughter

Psychological Characteristics of Juvenile Offenders

• No evidence of psychosis or serious mental illness

in young child murderers

• History of severe educational difficulties

• Lack of parental monitoring

Treatment of Juveniles Who Kill

• Typically placed in juvenile facilities without

intensive treatment

• Older adolescent murderers are often placed in

adult prisons

• Strategies to cope with stress

IPV

Physical, psychological, and sexual violence

perpetrated by individuals in a present or past

intimate relationship

– Domestic violence

– Family violence

– Usually women victims, male perpetrators

– The importance of context

IPV and Populations

Same-sex or nonheterosexual IPV

– More research is needed

• Law enforcement and military families

– High stress levels

• Older adults

– Most at risk if there is history of abuse in the

relationship

Psychological and Demographic of Abusers

Batterer typology

– Type 1

– Type 2

– Type 3

• Insecure attachment

• Antisocial personality disorder

• Alcohol and drug abuse

Type 1

Batterers who abuse family members only. Most common, tend to be less aggressive than the other two, and also tend to be more remorseful for their actions

Type 2

Batterers who abuse family members because of their own emotional problems. Labeled borderline/dysphoric, tend to be depressed, inadequate individuals who are emotionally volatile, with high levels of anger, and who display indicators of personality disorders and psychopathology

Type 3

Batterers who are generally violent toward both family members and persons outside the family. Labeled the generally violent/antisocial group, these individuals are antisocial, criminally prone, and violent across situations. They are more likely to abuse alcohol and are generally more belligerent toward almost everyone.

Prevalence of Family Violence

• About one of every five murders and nonnegligent

manslaughters in the United States (in which the

victim-offender relationship is known) involves a

family member killing another family member

– Majority involves spouse killing spouse

• Homicide followed by suicide is neglected area-

Victims of Violent Crime

Approximately 20% of all arrests made for

aggravated assaults and 60% for simple assault

involved family members

– Infants are the most vulnerable but rarely the

only victim

Child Abuse and Neglect

Girls are four times more likely to be sexually

abused

• National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence

(NatSCEV)

– Sibling victimization

– Polyvictims

Abduction

– Nonstranger

– Nonfamily

▪ Motivation typically sexual

– Stereotypical

▪ Female

▪ Sexually assaulted and killed

▪ Between 6 and 14 years old

Type I—Criminal Intent.

This offender has no legitimate relationship to the workplace or the victim and usually enters the workplace to commit a criminal action such as a robbery or theft. Common victims of Type I offenders are small, late-night retail establishments, including convenience stores and restaurants, and taxi drivers.

Type 2—Customer/Client/Patients.

This offender is the recipient of some service provided by the victim or workplace and may be either a current or former client, patient, student, customer, or inmate or person under correctional supervision (e.g., on probation or parole).

Type 3—Co-worker

This offender has an employment-related involvement with the workplace. The act of violence is usually committed by a current or former employee, supervisor, or manager who has a dispute with another employee of the workplace. This type of workplace violence offender is usually referred to as the “disgruntled employee” and is often someone who has been fired, demoted, or lost benefits. When death results from the violence, if the victim or victims were of higher authority than the perpetrator, the crime may be called authority homicide.

Type 4—Personal

This offender has an indirect involvement with the workplace because of a relationship with an employee. The offender may be a current or former spouse or partner, someone who was in a dating relationship with the employee, or a relative or friend. Essentially, the perpetrator follows the employee into the workplace from the outside.

Investigative Psych Q’s (3)

1. What are the important behavioral features of

the crime that may help identify and successfully

prosecute the perpetrator?

2. What inferences can be made about the

characteristics offenders that may help identify

them?

3. Are there any other crimes that are likely to have

been committed by the same person?

Research on Profiling

Two basic flaws in modern-day profiling

1. Human behavior is consistent across a variety

of different situations

2. Offense style or evidence gathered at the

crime scene is directly related to specific

personality characteristics

Geographic Location of Victims

Comfort zones defined by an anchor point

• Rossmo’s four hunting patterns

1. Hunter

2. Poacher

3. Troller

4. Trapper

Mass Murder Typology (5)

Fox and Levin’s (2003) five-category typology

based on motivation

1. Revenge

2. Power

3. Loyalty

4. Profit

5. Terror